Central Telegraph restoration completed in Moscow
The restoration of the Central Telegraph building in Moscow has been completed, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced. The cultural heritage site had been under renovation since 2022.
The telegraph was built in 1927 to a design by engineer-architect Ivan Rerberg. It is located at the intersection of Tverskaya Street with Nikitsky and Gazetny Lanes. In addition to equipment rooms and public halls, the building housed apartments for the management of the communications center, dormitories for the duty shift, a library for employees, and a nursery for their children.
As part of the restoration, the building«s foundations and base soils were reinforced, facades were repaired, and an underground parking lot was built. A glass dome that lets in natural light was installed in the inner courtyard.
«Other important decorative elements were also put in order — the metal letters of the »Telegraph« inscription, the wrought-iron railing, flagpoles, and lamp brackets on the obelisks at the main entrance. Special attention was paid to the clock with a bell: specialists restored the dial and overhauled the mechanism,» Sobyanin said.
The globe is considered the hallmark of the Central Telegraph. During the work, specialists restored its frame, glass elements and mechanisms. The globe will now rotate around its axis again.
The cost of the restoration contract was 160 million rubles ($1,684,200 at current rates), with a tenth of the funds spent on restoring the globe. The comprehensive restoration and renovation project for the entire building was prepared by the British architectural firm David Chipperfield Architects, and the contractor was the St. Petersburg company SSU-5, which also worked on restoring the Hermitage«s storage facility.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the revenue of OJSC SSU-5 for 2024 amounted to 2.65 billion rubles ($27.89 million at current rates), with net profit of 35.9 million rubles ($377,900 at current rates).
As reported by MSK1.RU, the restored building will soon house the Central University, created by leading Russian companies: T-Bank, MTS, VK, and others. It is expected that the building will accommodate over 5,000 students and faculty. We discussed the history of the Central Telegraph in more detail in a separate publication.
